Our Department of Alaska Convention is scheduled to be held on April 23-25, 2026, in Wasilla at Susitna Valley Post 35, 4180 Tweed Court, in Wasilla, Alaska.

The Convention convenes April 23 with a Pre-Convention DEC meeting on Wednesday, April 22, 2025, and a post-convention DEC meeting on Saturday, April 25 when the Convention adjourns.

Here are some things you need to be aware of in order to be prepared for this year’s Department Convention:

      1. SPECIAL MEMORANDUM: There is a total of $30 which ALL UNITS are required to pay REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE ATTENDING THE CONVENTION. This should be received by the ALA Department by March 29th. If not received, an invoice will be sent to those Units who have not paid.
      2. CONVENTION REGISTRATION: There are two Convention forms that need to be completed:
          • One is the Auxiliary Delegates and Alternates form due back to ALA Department Secretary by March 29. This is only a list of names of each unit’s delegates and alternates. No money should be sent with this form. (Included in ALA Forms below).
          • The other is the TAL Registration form (also included in The American Legion Packet), which is due back to The American Legion Post 35 postmarked on or before March 29th, 2026. If registration is received by March 29th the cost will be $160. If received after March 29th the cost will be $180. Payment should be included when you send the Registration Form to Susitna Valley Post 35, 4180 Tweed Court, Wasilla, AK 99623. (Included in TAL Packet below).
      3. CERTIFICATION OF DELEGATES: This form certifies the delegates to represent your unit at the Department Convention. While you can email/mail this before the convention, the ORIGINAL must be brought to the Convention (signed by the Unit President and Secretary) and given to the Department Secretary. (Included in ALA Forms below).
      4. UNIT OFFICERS FOR THE 2026-2027 YEAR: Don’t forget to hold your elections prior the Convention. Generally speaking, nominations are presented at one general meeting and voting occurs at the next general meeting. That probably means nominations in February and elections in March. Please remember that no one can hold an office unless their membership shows current (both the Unit and Department levels). You can send it to the Department Secretary prior to the Department Convention, but please keep a copy for your unit records. It is important that all requested information is submitted. Please do not write “see last year” on the forms. It is always possible that what you have at the completion of this form is not what the Department Secretary has from last year.
      5. VOTING STRENGTH FOR CONVENTION: The voting strength for the convention will be determined based on the membership in each unit one month before Convention. That means you will need to have all your memberships mailed to Department on or before March 23, 2026.
      6. ENDORSEMENT LETTERS: Those who are running for an ALA Department officer position must have an endorsement from their Unit. That requires you to approve endorsing that person and the position for which they are running. After your Unit meeting, an endorsement letter on the Unit letterhead and signed by the President and Secretary should be sent to the Department Secretary. You can email it to aladofak@gmail.com, but please send in the original by mail. She will then inform you when you can release your letter to the other units in our Department. Do not send it to other Units until you get the ok to send a notification.
      7. History Books, Prayer Books, Poppy Books, Poppy Poster: Please prepare your books and posters now to bring to the Department Convention. They should be submitted upon arrival at the Auxiliary meeting on April 23, 2026.
      8. SCHOLARSHIPS: Our Education Chairperson, Samantha Funk, will be sending you information on all scholarships available. Remember that the national scholarship application are submitted electronically, while the Merrilyn Stock/Evelyn Oliver scholarship is approved during our Department Convention and must be submitted to the local Unit for approval (and checking to be sure the applicant is eligible) before it is sent to the Department Secretary with a signature of approval by the Unit.

    The National scholarship applications are submitted electronically to our National Headquarters. Applications may be found by going to www.legion-aux.org: Then type the name of the scholarship in the search bar or click the specific link below for each scholarship. NHQ will then forward those application received to the Department for the first round of judging. Deadline for all applications is March 1st at 7:59 p.m. Alaska time (11:59 p.m. Eastern time).

    The Merrilyn Stock/Evelyn Oliver application must be submitted to the local unit for approval (and checking to be sure the applicant is eligible) before it is sent to the Department Secretary with a signature of approval by the unit They can be sent by certified mail to the Department Secretary prior to April 5th They can also be brought to the Convention. The winner(s) will be selected during the Department Convention.

    POST/UNIT EVERLASTING: We will be having a Post Everlasting Ceremony at the Convention. This will cover the dates from April 1, 2025, to March 30, 2026. Please be sure you have sent updates on all members who have passed away during that time so we can include them in the Ceremony. The updates need to be received by April 1st.

    GOVERNING DOCUMENTS PROPOSED AMENDMENTS: The proposed amendments to our Department’s Constitution, Bylaws, Standing Rules and Policies & Procedures that will come before the 2026 Department Convention during April 23-25, 2026 in Wasilla. They are:

  1. Question & Answer Session via Zoom on March 14 at 10:30am Alaska Time – A virtual QUESTION & ANSWER session on the governance items to come before the delegates at our upcoming Department Convention Saturday, March 14, 2026 at 10:30 am Alaska Time. This is not a meeting, just informal Q&A. We intend on only discussing those items that there are questions about during this Zoom, and not go through the entire document, page by page. Details of that Zoom will be sent out in the coming weeks. We hope that having a Q&A Session will help us alleviate extremely long discussions at Department Convention, and allow us to update our governing documents quickly.

  2. THINGS TO REMEMBER:

        • A no-host cocktails and finger foods get together will take place, beginning at 5 pm, Wednesday, April 22, in honor of the Legion, Auxiliary and SAL VIPs who will be attending the Convention.
        • Registration will run from 5 to 7pm, Wednesday, April 22 in and again from 7 am to 8:45 am, Thursday, April 23.
        • The Americanism Luncheon is on Thursday.
        • Friday wear RED in support of our troops.
        • Saturday wear PURPLE in support of the Military Child of the Month (April) and the Children and Youth Luncheon is also on Saturday.

    FORMS:

    For more information and details, contact our Department Secretary at aladofak@gmail.com.

Alaska Department